1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to an air cleaner for a vehicle, and more particularly, to an air cleaner for a vehicle, which makes it possible to easily replace a filter of the air cleaner and secures strong airtightness of the filter.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, an air cleaner provided in an engine room of a vehicle purifies intake air that is necessary in a combustion process of an engine to obtain high output of the engine.
An air cleaner in the related art, as disclosed in Korean Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10-2005-0104070 entitled “Gasket Assembly Structure of Air Cleaner Filter”, published on Dec. 2, 2005, 2-3 p, FIG. 4, includes a case and a cover, and a filter is installed in an inner space that is formed through engagement of the case with the cover. On the case of the air cleaner, an air inlet for making air flow into the case and an outlet for exhausting the inflow air from the case are formed.
Accordingly, outer air flows into the inside of the air cleaner 1 through an intake duct that is connected to the air inlet of the air cleaner, and the inflow air passes through the filter of the air cleaner, which filters foreign substances such as dust, to be supplied to the engine.
However, according to the above-described air cleaner in the related art, due to the design-related cause of the currently developed vehicles, a front pillar (A-Pillar) is formed long (deep) to the inside of the engine room in the front portion of the vehicle, and thus a cowl is also installed in the deep interior of the engine room. Further, a brake reserve tank is arranged on the front side of the engine room to keep away from the cowl and is positioned at an upper end portion of the air cleaner.
Accordingly, as illustrated in FIG. 1, due to a narrow gap between the air cleaner 1 and peripheral components, it is not easy to rotate (open) the cover 3 from the case 2 that forms the air cleaner 1, and this causes inconvenience and trouble in replacing the filter of the air cleaner 1.
That is, in order to replace the filter of the air cleaner 1 in the related art as illustrated in FIG. 2, a clamp 3a is removed, the cover 3 is opened from the case 2 through the rotation thereof, and then a filter assembly 4 is extracted from the case 2. However, as described above, due to the narrow layout of the engine room, the opening and closing structure of the air cleaner 1, and the characteristic of the intake duct that is connected to the air cleaner 1 (in the case of the duct having a short length or the hose having no flexibility), the filter replacement is hampered by a lot of obstacles.
In particular, if a sufficient space between the open cover 3 and the case 2 is not secured, a rubber gasket 5 that is installed on the filter assembly 4 may be pressed (chewed) between the cover 3 and the case 2 during the replacement of the filter, and this may cause the airtightness of the filter to deteriorate.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.